News: Here are a few reasons why *not* to use the cloud. Feel free to add your own.

We just published a little article on reasons why you might want to avoid the cloud. Cloud computing becomes clown computing when you're using it for no good reason.

You can read the article *here* but it would be easier if we just summarized it:

Some reasons not to use the cloud:

i. When your Internet connection is slow and not reliable. The cloud requires high speed and reliable connection to the service provider’s servers and the absence of good connection will lead to bad experience of working on cloud.

ii. If you need security equivalent to Pentagon’s requirement as that cannot be provided by any shared system such as cloud.

iii. If you already have secured and reliable infrastructure in place. There is no use of spending extra dollar just for the sake of moving.

iv. The cost of going to cloud is higher than the cost of setting up internal network. If the business requirement can be met at lesser cost using in house setup then it does not make sense to move to cloud.

v. The IT capability or service planned to be moved to cloud is mission critical for your business operations. The mission critical applications can be better handled with full in house control than depending on service provider.

vi. If your company operates under stringent data security requirements such as Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) or Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) the cloud is not for you. The service provided by cloud providers may not meet FISMA or HIPAA requirement of security and privacy of the data.

vii. If you have the requirement for deployment of complex enterprise class applications that require full control at your end.

viii. If your system handles sensitive data that requires incident responses and forensic investigations. This requires that all the devices where the data resides are available to the investigators as and when required.

ix. If you are not comfortable in managing the additional complexities outside the contract due to the use of cloud computing.

xi. If the overall cost of migrating to the Cloud results in negative ROI due to cloud requirements of data standardization, customization, integration etc.

xii. The applications require to be used are tightly linked to some other applications.

xiii. The applications that require specific hardware (chip set) and software platform are not suitable to be run on cloud because this will prevent the cloud provider from upgrading his infrastructure in future.

xiv. Use of some of the applications that cannot be run efficiently in cloud environment such as those requiring large number of IP addresses that may not be possible for cloud provider to handle.

We often find that SaaS is not for everyone due to many of these reasons. When you start calculating the actual costs and a 3 year contract, you could have purchased the solution. The long term ROI is not as attractive as it sounds. The argument is more of CapEx versus OpEx expenditure.

Other factors include:

--Not all SaaS is created equal. Many companies install aggregators on the client side anyway. So the actual advantages of the SaaS vanish quickly. Ask the right questions......

--Performance will gradually decline as the vendor grows and tries to squeeze more and more out of each machine.

I think if you are an established company, moving to the cloud just like any other change in IT will have a cost. If on the other hand you have just started your company with a couple of college mates I do not see why you should not use Gmail as your email provider.

There are a lot more considerations such as the nature of your core business. If your IT infrastructure is part of your tools to providing a service then it makes sense to host you own servers, but if you are provide plumbing, electrical services ... then the cloud is best.

I've found that uploading files to Rackspace Cloud Files is both extremely slow and prone to timeouts. A major pain. Otherwise, I love the Cloud, It allowed to host an enterprise java environment at a cost of a php small business account

Back in the fifties many villages in Germany had a public fridge, where people could store their meat. Nowadays fridges are cheap so everybody has their own fridge in the basement. Nobody bothers to go down to the village center to fetch meat for dinner.

With computer hardware we aren't in the fifties anymore either, server hardware is cheap, so why bother with a cloud supplier and cloud security issues?

To continue your analogy - Everyone has a refrigerator repairman (or two) on staff too - to clean out the fridge, wipe it down, replace the shelves, stock the food, and repair it all time (which is not like modern refrigerators), etc. Or worse, they have a nephew on staff doing this because he knows how to use a cooler.

Also, the refridge is running at the lowest temparture even if there is only one cube in the freezer.

TechTarget provides technology professionals with the information they need to perform their jobs - from developing strategy, to making cost-effective purchase decisions and managing their organizations technology projects - with its network of technology-specific websites, events and online magazines.